The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and in particular to a method and apparatus for generating cohorts. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program code for processing input in conduct analysis models to generate deportment and comportment cohorts.
Psychology is the study of an individual's mental processes, conduct, and social behavior. Sociology is the study of an individual's conduct in social groups. Individuals may be the subjects of psychological and sociological studies that are used to understand and interpret the conduct, emotions, intentions, and tendencies of individuals to behave in a various ways in various situations. Subjects may be placed in cohorts for psychological or sociological study. A cohort is a group of people or animals that share a common attribute or experience. For example, a group of people born in 1980 may form a birth cohort. A cohort may include one or more sub-cohorts. For example, the birth cohort of people born in 1980 may include a sub-cohort of people born in 1980 in Salt Lake City, Utah. A sub-sub-cohort may include people born in 1980 in Dallas, Tex. to low income, single parent homes. Cohorts are frequently generated based on one or more attributes of the members of each cohort. The information used to identify the attributes of members of a cohort is typically provided by the members of the cohort. However, information describing attributes of members of a cohort may be voluminous, dynamically changing, unavailable, difficult to collect, and/or unknown to the member of the cohort and/or the user selecting members of a cohort. Thus, unique cohorts may be sub-optimal because individuals lack the skills, time, knowledge, and/or expertise needed to gather cohort attribute information from available sources.